China has advised its citizens to exercise caution when travelling to Lebanon due to heightened regional tensions following the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon highlighted the severe and complex security situation and urged Chinese citizens to be vigilant.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Lebanon remind Chinese citizens to pay close attention to local developments and be cautious when travelling to Lebanon in the near future,” the embassy stated in a Chinese-language announcement late Monday.
Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated since Tel Aviv’s assassination of senior military commander Fouad Shukr in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb on July 30. Ismail Haniyeh was also assassinated in Tehran the following day, an attack attributed to Israel, though Tel Aviv has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Hamas and Iran have vowed to retaliate for Haniyeh’s assassination, and Hezbollah has pledged to respond to Shukr’s killing. Fears of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah have grown amid ongoing cross-border conflicts and an Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has resulted in nearly 40,000 deaths since last October following a Hamas attack.
